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James Prior, Baron Prior

The Right Honourable
The Lord Prior
PC
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
In office
14 September 1981 – 27 September 1984
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by Humphrey Atkins
Succeeded by Douglas Hurd
Secretary of State for Employment
In office
4 May 1979 – 14 September 1981
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by Albert Booth
Succeeded by Norman Tebbit
Shadow Secretary of State for Employment
In office
29 October 1974 – 4 May 1979
Leader Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by Reg Prentice
Succeeded by Albert Booth
Shadow Home Secretary
In office
11 March 1974 – 13 June 1974
Leader Edward Heath
Preceded by Roy Jenkins
Succeeded by Keith Joseph
Leader of the House of Commons
Lord President of the Council
In office
5 November 1972 – 4 March 1974
Prime Minister Edward Heath
Preceded by Robert Carr
Succeeded by Edward Short
Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
In office
20 June 1970 – 5 November 1972
Prime Minister Edward Heath
Preceded by Cledwyn Hughes
Succeeded by Joseph Godber
Member of Parliament
for Waveney
Lowestoft (1959–1983)
In office
8 October 1959 – 11 June 1987
Preceded by Edward Evans
Succeeded by David Porter
Personal details
Born James Michael Leathes Prior
(1927-10-11)11 October 1927
Died 12 December 2016(2016-12-12) (aged 89)
Political party Conservative
Alma mater Pembroke College, Cambridge

James Michael Leathes Prior, Baron Prior, PC (11 October 1927 – 12 December 2016), usually known as Jim Prior, was a British Conservative politician. A member of parliament from 1959 to 1987, he represented the Suffolk constituency of Lowestoft until 1983 and then the renamed constituency of Waveney from 1983 to 1987, when he stood down from the House of Commons and was made a life peer. He served in two Conservative Cabinets, and outside parliament was Chairman of the Arab British Chamber of Commerce from 1996 to 2004.

Under Edward Heath, Prior was Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food from 1970 to 1972, then Leader of the House of Commons until Heath lost the election of 1974. His party returned to office under Margaret Thatcher in 1979, and Prior was Secretary of State for Employment from 1979 to 1981, disagreeing with some of her views on trade unions and her monetarist economic policies generally. This made him a leader of the so-called "wet" faction in the Conservative ranks. In 1981 he was moved to the less pivotal role of Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, standing down in 1984 and never returning to government.

Prior was educated at Charterhouse School, before going on to Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he earned a first class honours degree in Land economy at Pembroke College. He did military service as an officer in the Royal Norfolk Regiment of the British Army, serving in Germany and India.


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